NORTHEASTERN IOWA HORT. SOC'Y, ANNUAL MEETING. 69 



opinion of every member in the house, which brought on quite an 

 animated discussion, but was soon settled by a vote, four out of five 

 recommending it. 



J. L. Herbst, of Sparta, Wis., and superintendent of trial or- 

 chard at Wausau, reported the ten acre orchard there in a very prom- 

 ising condition, especially Longfield, Northwestern Greening, Pat- 

 ten's Greening and Windsor, The Virginia crab is the best stock 

 for top-working. All withstood the rigors of winter of '98-9 without 

 noticeable injury. 



J. S. Trigg told how a family could be supplied with fruit from 

 a town lot, and those who were skeptical before the discussion had 

 their doubts removed at the very start when the Rockford editor and 

 horticulturist ruled that pieplant is fruit, and apportioned six hills 

 to a small family, which if properly cared for would furnish pie and 

 sauce in season and enough to can for winter. This with a variety of 

 other fruit, which might easily be grown on a large town lot. made 

 the solution of the problem quite easy. 



Afternoon. Eugene Secor, of Forest City, named his favorite 

 shrubs and flowers, and while there are many things that are new 

 and novel and nice, with names almost unintelligible. Mr. Secor still 

 stands for the old fashioned lilac, snowball, syringa, tree honey- 

 suckle, white and pink, the peony, dahlia, tulip, gladiolus, pansy, 

 sweet pea, etc., and made us think of the old song, "There's no 

 friends like old friends." 



W. H. Guilford, the Dubuque Sunday school teacher and ack- 

 nowledged authority on grapes and cherries, got the floor several 

 times during this session and always fovmd eager and attentive listen- 

 ers. He preaches the gospel of horticulture with a zeal that carries 

 conviction with it — a genuine encyclopedia of knowledge — revised 

 to date, from preface to appendix. 



The evening session opened with music. A very valuable paper 

 on "Plant Breeding" was read by A. T. Erwin, a young man from 

 the Ames School of Agriculture, and the subject was well handled. 

 Many of the old heads absorbed information that they had never 

 before been able to obtain. The young student is on the right 

 track, and will be heard from later. 



The three days' program was worked off in two days, and all 

 went home with new energ}', with greater earnestness and more en- 

 thusiasm and a determination to make the influence of the horti- 

 ticultural society appreciated and honored by every one. It was a 

 genuine love feast from start to finish, and your delegate can truly 

 sav that it was good to be there. We were, by a unanimous vote. 



